Alienware Curved Display at CES. OMG I want this now.

[srdsprinter]

2880x900 resolution, double DLP? Ultra fast response time, plus its freaking sweet. http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/01/two-440.jpg

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/07/alienware-curved-display-rocks-crysis-at-2880-x-900/

Don't get all frothed up quite yet because it's still only a prototype, but this sweet doublewide curved DLP display with OLED illumination from Alienware will reportedly be available in the second half of '08. The curvature of the 2880 x 900 rez screen mimics peripheral vision, and in action the performance seemed pretty flawless to our Crysis-dazzled eyes (official specs report less than .02-millisecond response time). We did notice three faint vertical dividing lines that appeared to indicate four sub-panels making up this screen, but we may be willing to suspend disbelief in exchange for the potential of indulgent wrap-around immersion. There's not even an inkling of an MSRP on this thing yet, but you know we're gonna be keeping our eyes on this sucker for ya. Pics below and don't miss our video footage (http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/07/video-alienwares-curved-display-caters-to-gamers/)

I think this would pwn for LFS...

EDIT 2 -> 2.59 megapixels, i.e. just higher in total resolution than a 1920x1200 1080p monitor.

[Dennisjr13]

I bet it would be annoying when you are watching a movie..

[joen]

:jawdrop:
that's pretty amazing

[srdsprinter]

I bet it would be annoying when you are watching a movie..
Chances are, if you want to buy this, you already have a dedicated tv for the movies, but i don't know, its actually 3.2 width/height, which is a bit closer to the ~2.3-2.5 the movies have... i think :shrug:


Anywho, it certainly is impressive. I hope it catches on, that resolution would be the shizzie for lfs.

[Tweaker]

Yeah I read about this last night... was pretty amazed that finally more seamless displays are being made.

And this one is pure sex :D. But it's by Alienware, and price will make me ignore this.

[srdsprinter]

Yeah I read about this last night... was pretty amazed that finally more seamless displays are being made.

And this one is pure sex :D. But it's by Alienware, and price will make me ignore this.
Hopefully a Dell version might be out in a few years. 27" at that resolution... I would dish out a 'G' for... OLED's might be affordable in a year or 2.

The appeal of that screen (to me) is far far higher than a 30" 2560x1600.

[thisnameistaken]

Surely if the screen is curved, you'd need a special graphics driver to render an image to fit it properly? Otherwise you'll get perspective issues at the edges, won't you?

Please let me know how I'm doing at pretending to understand stuff!

[srdsprinter]

Surely if the screen is curved, you'd need a special graphics driver to render an image to fit it properly? Otherwise you'll get perspective issues at the edges, won't you?

Please let me know how I'm doing at pretending to understand stuff!
I believe you may be correct. I'm not sure though.

I believe some games (like LFS?) are actually doing this already, in that your FOV is a slice of pie if you will, but its relatively small enough not to need curvature.

I doubt the curvature is extreme enough to necessitate any major reworking of the current systems.

BTW, you sounded quite like you know what you were doing. :D

[Electrik Kar]

Looks interesting, but I wouldn't call it teh sex- it just looks too wide and a bit too geeky. It would pwn for 2D platform jumping games though :razz:

[thisnameistaken]

I quite like the styling of it. Looks like it could've been pulled off the set of Thunderbirds or something. :D

[srdsprinter]

Looks interesting, but I wouldn't call it teh sex- it just looks too wide and a bit too geeky. It would pwn for 2D platform jumping games though :razz:
Honestly a bit less geeky than a Triple Head 2 Go setup, you concede?

And for LFS it would be really nice to get a good view with all your mirrors in it while maintaining the high level of down track detail.

[Tweaker]

I am not convinced that you'd see the sides of the car in LFS. It is said to be like two widescreen monitors, but even with 3 widescreen monitors in LFS you don't get a full 180 degree wraparound. So the only real gain would be slightly more peripheral gain on the side which only adds to the experience a little bit, and doesn't make you any faster or better of a racer.

To be honest, I think it is better suited to flight sims, since most of those have views which are very restrictive towards the front and it blocks much of your view that is important for flight. However, it being so slim and narrow of a view, I'd think that you'd want more vertical area to view your game.

To have a true effect of being 'surrounded' by the game you'd need to have a dome effect. For racing games I guess having mostly a horizontal viewing space is all that you need, but I honestly don't see the gain of having the view on the sides since most of the focus is directly in the middle when driving a car.

[thisnameistaken]

Still waiting for someone to set up LFS in a square room with four projectors.

[srdsprinter]

...

The way I play LFS is with a narrow FOV on my 22" WS. This gives the most detail I can get down the course, where I'm focusing. Unfortunately it almost always cuts off my mirrors. So for me, this would be the best of both worlds.

I'm not hoping for true 180 degree vision (i don't believe this claims to do), or anything close to it. I just believe it would allow me to maintain my LFS FOV, but to be able to really use the mirrors. Would it make me faster? Almost certainly not, but I believe the immersion gain would be far more palpable than getting a larger standard lcd.

different strokes for different folks i guess. :thumb:

[SlamDunk]

Better video: http://gizmodo.com/341413/alienware-curved-monitor-looks-like-its-from-another-planet

[Electrik Kar]

I'd think that you'd want more vertical area to view your game.

Yeah, I reckon so as well. It really looks more like a fairly big monitor with the top and bottoms cut off. Sure there maybe more peripheral angle, but where's the sky, and where's the ground? This is like Ned Kelly vision or something.

Maybe I'm just being old fashioned? (edit: not that I don't doubt this would most likely rock for LFS)

Honestly a bit less geeky than a Triple Head 2 Go setup, you concede?

I never said 3 monitor setups weren't geeky :p

[Nathan_French_14]

/me wants

[srdsprinter]

900 isn't a bad amount of vertical IMO. I game at 1050 vertical, and aside from not knowing what gear my MRT is in, I've no troubles with it.

I do have trouble ensuring I'm clear left and right, and only having two wheel mounted buttons on my G25 sort of limits my options.

That said, I would wish it was at least 1080 just for HD's sake.

[Electrik Kar]

Anyway, this would totally kill my current low contrast 17 inch 17ms response time noname LCD monitor anyday. And I still like my present monitor. :nod:

[Shotglass]

Surely if the screen is curved, you'd need a special graphics driver to render an image to fit it properly? Otherwise you'll get perspective issues at the edges, won't you?

Please let me know how I'm doing at pretending to understand stuff!

youre exactly right and as long as graphics cards dont offer anything other than the usual flat projections any kind of wide screen beyond 16:9 is going to look rubbish

To be honest, I think it is better suited to flight sims, since most of those have views which are very restrictive towards the front and it blocks much of your view that is important for flight. However, it being so slim and narrow of a view, I'd think that you'd want more vertical area to view your game.

from my experience sitting in planes with people who actually knew what theyre doing (as opposed to me who was just staring at the dials going ooooh and aaah) you dont see much out of a plane anyway and spend most of your time looking at the instruments and the maps on your lap

[ajp71]

from my experience sitting in planes with people who actually knew what theyre doing (as opposed to me who was just staring at the dials going ooooh and aaah) you dont see much out of a plane anyway and spend most of your time looking at the instruments and the maps on your lap

Looking around is almost entirely for checking for other planes, which are far more frequent than you'd expect. In flight simulators it is harder to look around but I'd of thought that a monitor would be more helpful because you need the vertical as much as anything to display the instruments up to the sky, in fact I'd of thought a 4:3 would be preferable to a 16:9 unless it's massive.

[Shotglass]

Looking around is almost entirely for checking for other planes, which are far more frequent than you'd expect. In flight simulators it is harder to look around but I'd of thought that a monitor would be more helpful because you need the vertical as much as anything to display the instruments up to the sky, in fact I'd of thought a 4:3 would be preferable to a 16:9 unless it's massive.

thats only if youre flying vfr though
and most people i know or have heard of who play flight sims are either not worried at all about crashing into things and just enjoy the flying or are really into ifr and spending hours working out routes for some inexplicable reason

[Tweaker]

On the subject of displays, I noticed this one from Samsung:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/07/hands-on-with-the-samsung-2263dx-22-7-ubisync-lcd/

It is a 22' LCD with a swiveling sort of secondary 7' mini-display.

If you look in this picture, it can be placed above the monitor. Would be cool if you get get a lot of these little screens and make them your mirrors in LFS :). Specifically the one on the top to be your primary rear view mirror, would work great.

http://www.engadget.com/photos/hands-on-with-the-samsung-ubisync-22-7-lcd/565111/

[atlantian]

maybe... if i can wrap an oled screen around my head, i can play the game without using a button for look functions. just turn my head

[Nathan_French_14]

maybe... if i can wrap an oled screen around my head, i can play the game without using a button for look functions. just turn my head

Most stupid technical suggestion ever. Just tell me, how on earth will you manage to get a monitor, and "wrap" it around your head?

I much easier thing to do (if you had the cash) would be to get triplehead2go and then get TRACKiR. Would give roughly the same affect, and be alot more comfortable.

[atlantian]

i mean just have a big "curved wide screen"(that is so wide it wraps around you) that would just be placed around you on a desk or on stands

[Maelstrom]

I'm waiting for full vision google with track IR integreted :D

[Crashgate3]

Now three of them side-by-side using Kegetys' SoftTH would be impressive.... :D

[MAGGOT]

I don't see the point in a slight curvature. To me, seeing the side of your car on a screen which is actually in front of you (not beside you) would just be downright disorienting. If it had a much more pronounced curvature to the point where it wraps around to your sides, then I could see it being useful.



...Still... I want one.

[shiny_red_cobra]

And companies have worked so hard to make modern displays which are perfectly flat... What a wasted effort...

[Electrik Kar]

I think that's the OLED technology that allows that flexing. A few years ago, OLEDs were the way of the future, being cheaper (easier print manufacturing), more energy efficient (requires no backlight). I haven't actually seen any real world products featuring OLEDs until now, but probably they're being used in recent phones and things that require smaller screens.

[joen]

I haven't actually seen any real world products featuring OLEDs until now, but probably they're being used in recent phones and things that require smaller screens.

My MP3 player has an OLED screen, and there are a couple of (very expensive) keyboards coming out which use little OLED screens on the keys.
But I guess it still hasn't got enough benefits over LCD for big screens.

[Shotglass]

But I guess it still hasn't got enough benefits over LCD for big screens.

it has plenty of benefits
sadly the problem, that prevents oled from deliviering the final death blow to the crap technology that is lcd, is still aging

[avellis]

Please let me know how I'm doing at pretending to understand stuff!

You were doing just fine, until you wrote this sentence.

[mcookrowe]

/steal

[HellBoy99]

It's just 4 monitors stuck together. U can see the lines.

(4 monitors without the crap on the sides)

[Stang70Fastback]

It's just 4 monitors stuck together. U can see the lines.

(4 monitors without the crap on the sides)

Yup, that's all it is. The point was not to create a REVOLUTIONARY product, but just to take something that people crudely put together in their homes (3-4 monitors) and make it simple, easy, good looking, more convenient, and most importantly, to eliminate the bars in between.

Also, they said that the visible lines should be gone by the time it goes into production.